michaelnel

Regarding the lithium battery... does it have to be charged with the supplied charger, or does it charge (slowly) when connected to a PC via USB? I figure it probably doesn't charge on USB because it would take too much current, but maybe someone knows for sure.

There actually is one, but there isn't much info there: http://garminmontana650t.wikispaces.com/home EDIT: Ooops, it appears to have been abandoned.

OK, I would say you are probably right there. I don't think cell phone hardware is very good compared to dedicated GPSRs, and I don't think they perform anywhere near as well (especially under cover), but people generally are pretty technically inept, and if the mfg says it has a GPS in it, that's good enough for them. I agree the cell phone threat is very real. Way more significant than any competition from the likes of Magellan or Lowrance.

Don't know about that, it's not like they have any competent competition. Garmin clearly owns the handheld GPS market.

It's a common problem with the x10 series.

I just reported it to oregon.beta too.

I used the generic support form. It hadn't occurred to me to report a Montana production release bug to the Oregon Beta team. Is that what we're supposed to do?

OK, I just filed a report on the shutdowns with Garmin. I specified that I have the latest 2.50 firmware installed, but I betcha the first response I get from a support person there will tell me to download and install the latest firmware. ;-)

I think the best I saw today was something like 13 feet in conditions where it had a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. Under those circumstances my 60cxs and 62s would typically show 8 or 9 feet. It isn't really "accuracy" though, it is "Estimated Position Error", see here for a discussion: http://edu-observatory.org/gps/gps_accuracy.html I'm not OK with it. I intend to complain to Garmin, I just haven't had a chance to yet.

Garmin's software/firmware dev team seems really good at coming up with cool features, but they are really bad and slow at testing and fixing bugs. Cool new features sell hardware. Fixing bugs and testing COSTS money that they don't want to spend. Seems it's always been that way with Garmin.

Got my Montana 600 this morning. Updated to 2.50 (after making a full backup of the device). Loaded Topo 2008 on it and a bunch of geocaches and went out geocaching. I love the display. I hated the display on the Oregon 450, but this one is great. I have WAAS enabled and it seldom produces the kind of 8-9 foot "accuracy" numbers my 62S did, but nonetheless it gets me to the caches very accurately. I only had the LI cell about 50% charged when I left home and after about 3 hours it was down to 25% but still working fine. I popped in 3 Powerex 2700mAh cells fresh off the charger and continued on. It did abruptly power itself off three times in three hours. All three times I was on the home screen, geocaching profile, hit the down arrow and POOF, black screen. Works fine after it comes back up, but that will need to be fixed. I think I recall some other folks having that problem too. I will have more to say about it in the future, but my initial impression is that this is by far the best GPS I have owned, and I have owned 15, all but two were Garmins.

I'm pretty sure Magellan does have a beta tester, he's just not very good. Yeah, but except for all that, it's a great unit! ;-)

If I recall correctly, my Oregon 450 did the same thing, as does my Nuvi 1690.

What version of firmware is in your Montana? Mine is *supposed* to arrive this morning and I am wondering if I should update to the latest firmware (is that 2.50?) or leave it alone?

I wish you the best of luck with your 710.

I ordered the 650 here: http://www.thenerds.net/GARMIN_INTERNATIONAL.Garmin_Montana_650_Handheld_GPS_GPS.0100092401.html I have bought stuff from them several times before and always received great pricing and service.

Well, I found a great deal on a 650 (not 650T) for only $30 more than Amazon charges for a 600 (and that includes shipping). I figure the camera's worth $30, so I ordered it, and I will send BOTH of the Amazon 600s back if they ever arrive. Amazon does have a great return policy, and I am sure they'll refund every penny on both units. GPS City wants $596 including USPS Priority Mail shipping for a 650, so $555 including expedited shipping is a way better deal. So now I have THREE Montanas on order. ;-)

It doesn't, but thanks for trying. ;-)

There are known problems with birdseye & basecamp being discussed on the Garmin forums. You can use basecamp to select an area and choose high resolution that should result in a download of multiple thousands of high res images and it will (without reporting any error) instead download hundreds of LOW resolution images. Garmin knows about the issue and says they are working on it. Until they fix it though, birdseye is a pretty crappy product, but then so is basecamp.

Somebody just doesn't want me to have a Garmin Montana. As previously posted, I ordered one from Amazon for next day delivery (should have been Friday) but due to some mechanical difficulty on either a plane or a truck, it got as far as Ontario California (near Los Angeles) and just sat there. It was not going to arrive Friday, and UPS seldom delivers Saturdays and never Sundays. I figured I would just order another one from Amazon with overnight shipping and it would arrive Saturday (today), and when the other one arrived Monday I would just send it back. So in the middle of the night I received email from Amazon apologizing that the SECOND unit I ordered from them had not shipped either! So I tried to cancel it, but as usual with Amazon, was unable to cancel it. It is in some weird limbo state where Amazon seems unable to ship it, but they won't let me cancel it either. I'm pretty frustrated with Amazon. Now I have TWO Montana 600s on the way, and since I already returned my 62S, have no GPS at all for this weekend. I may have to actually do something productive instead of geocaching. PS: REI has completely removed the Garmin Montana from their site now. A few days ago they listed the 600, 650, and 650T. Yesterday they had only the 650T listed, and now the only thing a search for "Garmin Montana" brings up is a Topo US 24K card for Idaho/Wyoming/Montana. Wonder what's up with that?

Thanks!

Boy did I screw up. Ordered a Montana 600 from Amazon yesterday, and since I am an Amazon Prime member opted for the $3.99 next day shipping. Last night I returned my GPSMap 62S to REI so I could get Garmin started on transferring the City Navigator and Birdsye stuff rom the 62 to the 600. Amazon shipped last night, via UPS Next Day. But sometime around midnight UPS had a mechanical failure on an airplane and now the Montana is stuck in Ontario California and won't be delivered today. I doubt they will deliver it Saturday either, and certainly not Sunday, so it looks like my cleverness has maneuvered me into a weekend with no GPS at all (well, I have a Nuvi 1690 but it's useless for geocaching). Oh well. Sorry, just came here to whine.

I sent you a separate email with my address.

I'll take it. PM sent.

I'll wait until I have had some pretty extensive usage of the Montana outdoors. I thought my Oregon 450 was OK at first and didn't give up on it for about 4 weeks. I am hoping that the larger display coupled with a little lower resolution will help it perform better in more angles in the sun.